"Any step toward improving and normalizing the relations with Russia will be taken with due consideration of all circumstances"

access_time2019-10-10 09:15:54

There are no precise
dates for resuming air travel with Egypt and Georgia so far as it is still
necessary to thoroughly consider the provision of security of Russian citizens
in those countries, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin said in an
interview published by the newspaper Izvestia on Wednesday.

He answered affirmatively to the
question of whether resumption of air travel with Georgia was discussed on the
sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

"The issue was discussed. For now, I can only refer to the
statements made by the minister [Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov] and
presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov. This is an important problem. It
must be resolved in the context of events that followed the decision [to
suspend the flights]," Vershinin said.

"We appreciate the relations of friendship with the people
of Georgia. Any step toward improving and normalizing these relations will be
welcomed by us, but these steps will be taken with due consideration of all
circumstances," he said.

Another setback in Russia-Georgia
relations was triggered by protests following the arrival of a Russian
parliamentary delegation to the session of the Inter-parliamentary Assembly on
Orthodoxy in Tbilisi on June 20.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an executive order on
June 21 banning flights of Russian airlines to and from Georgia starting July
8. Tour operators were advised against selling vacation packages to Georgia.

Regular flights between Russia and Georgia were earlier
suspended in August 2008 after the armed conflict in South Ossetia. Flights
resumed in August 2010. These were charter flights between Russia and Georgia,
which were available until the resumption of regular air travel in September
2014.

Resumption of direct flights, which were suspended on July 8,
has been actively discussed in recent days. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov said at a press conference in New York that Moscow was expecting the
Georgian administration "to promote normalization of relations with Russia
in a responsible manner."